Irish Tenor Banjo Blog

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Banjo Heaven - 2016 O'Flaherty Irish Music Retreat

Let me count the ways. First there was Gary O'Meara teaching banjo. Gary played with the Bock-McGuire Band - he took Enda Scahill's place - and he filled in for Enda in WeBanjo3 while Enda took a break. He is very busy in the studio backing up every major star in trad music.

Then there was Daniel Mehalko the former wunderkind who grew up at O'Flaherty learning the banjo and a bunch of other instruments and is now a full time musician. He taught the beginner banjo class.

And then there was Ken Fleming, a founder and the director of the O'Flaherty Irish Music Retreat, who first heard Mick Moloney play and decided that he had to play the Irish tenor banjo. Ken taught a class on session etiquette but is responsible for that greatest banjo players in the world coming to this Dallas based music workshop. Here he is at his local session.

Cathal Hayden was there too, teaching fiddle. He is another incredible banjo player.

And finally, the man himself, Mick Moloney. Mick has given up teaching in workshops but he made an effort to come to O'Flaherty (the first time in 7-8 years he has done this) to teach mandolin. Mick may have recorded the first trad tune on mandolin in the late 1960s and has been a leader in banjo and mandolin ever since. He is the inspiration of countless groups and has encourage thousands to take up the music and play.

So why were all these incredible banjo players there? I suspect it was due Ken Fleming. Ken is a banjo player and he always has great teachers come this this event. Apparently the perfect banjo storm occurred this October and he took advantage of it. Another incredible time was had by me and if you are an Irish tenor banjo player, you have to come to this workshop.

Take Cathal Hayden, for example. I mentioned that he taught the fiddle, but his first love is the banjo. He has played with a number of groups, most well known is 4 Men and a Dog, has a new CD of all banjo music out, and is a master musician. Here he is with fiddle.

He also gave an "informance" which is a freestyle class in which the teacher and the students have a lot of interaction. Here he is playing one of his tune sets.

And, of course, this:

Mick played with Jimmy Keane, Albert Alfonso, and Kieran Jordan (dancing) in addition to his mandolin class (which I took, hey, IT'S MICK.)

One of the things all these great musicians had in common was that the banjo was their first instrument. In all the years I have been going to O'Flaherty there have been no bad banjo teachers (or any other instrument, for that matter.) All the teachers love these four days in October because they are treated well and the students learn. They don't expect a mini-concert in class, there are plenty of those outside the class. If you have a chance, go to it but sign up early as spots tend to disappear fast.

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Polkas

Polkas and slides have a special place in Irish traditional music. They are very popular but a lot of musicians don't play them because they are very localized in origin (for the most part) from West Kerry and the Sliabh Luachra (which encompasses parts of Kerry, Cork and Limerick) and they require a special feeling to pull them off. They rely on more on back beat than the rest of Irish trad and are often very hard to play well if you are used to playing square tunes.

Polkas are a special challenge on the banjo and mandolin. Even thought he tunes are simple on paper, there is a lot going on especially when trying to emulate the lift that accordions and fiddles can get. In order to come close, we have to think in a different manner and play with a lot of down stroke emphasis.

Here is an example of polkas played very square and very badly. Note, however, that they are "authentic" in the sense that they are West Kerry polkas.

The Smith College Wailing Banshee ensemble is playing them with no back beat and no lift for the dancers. It sounds good at first until you hear the real thing.

Contrast this with Seamus Begley (who is from West Kerry) and Tim Edey:

Note the back beat, the tempo, and the enthusiasm of the players. They want you to dance.

Here are some well known Sliabh Luachra polkas from Jackie Daley and Seamus Creagh:

They are slightly different (the West Kerry and Sliabh Luachra musicians can tell the difference in a second) but still full of life and you want to move your feet due to the back beat. This is the essence of polkas and is what separates them from the other parts of Irish trad.

As a result, the rules for playing them on a banjo or mandolin go out the window. Back in the day, when I was writing for Mel Bay Banjosessions, I did a piece on how to play polkas on the banjo. Here is a video from that article:

The tune is simple, like most polkas, and I tried to emphasize the back beat. The main point I tried to make is that because of the emphasis on back beat, you have to play a lot of single down strokes in order to get the music to sound right. It takes a lot of listening to get it right and I don't think I quite got it in this video. In fact, every time I go back to Dingle, West Kerry, I have to re-learn how to play polkas and slides because if you are not around them a lot, you tend to fall into evil ways.

Enda Scahill teaches that alternate picking is the basis of all banjo playing (with the exception of jigs) but playing that way takes away some of the emphasis needed to carry a polka. Here is Brian McGillicuddy, of Cork, who showed us alternate picking on the mandolin. While he plays the polkas well, note that he plays single down strokes on some notes in order for the polkas to work.

In a concert or dance situation, Brian would be playing these tunes a lot faster, at least 130 bpm. He is playing to teach us the tunes here, but he can play at speed the way shown.

Trying to figure out polkas is not easy. They are simple tunes at 2/4 time that look easy but when played require that your head be in the groove for polkas. This is one music that absolutely has to be learned by ear. Here is my attempt at trying to play three polkas.

For Pluck Sake is another (and excellent) blog following the learning curve of two banjo players named Brendan (one is Breandan Mac Gabhann). Look it up. Lots of good information.

One more video. Enthusiasm! from Sliabh Notes. You have to play it on youtube, but it is worth it:

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Enda Scahill's Irish Banjo Tutor, Volume II

Volume
One of Enda Scahill's banjo tutor took me three entries in this blog to
describe it and give some hints on how to use it. It teaches the basic
techniques needed to play the instrument, techniques which include both
physical and mental tools, the latter including relaxation and
visualization. The first volume is dense with knowledge and needs to be
looked at over and over in order to help you develop a strong base from
which you can develop a style.

Volume Two is devoted to helping you with your style and as such is more advanced and expects you to have the basics down.

This
presents a problems to anyone eager to advance and get better as fast
as possible. Volume Two is the pathway to becoming an expert on the
Irish Tenor Banjo. It will not make you an expert, but it will give you
the tools for that state in life.

But becoming an expert is not an easy task.

Let
me explain my concept (and the concept of a lot of scientists who study
this state) of what an expert is. Experts are, in general, made, not
born. They are people who have an automatic response to stress that is
peculiar to a particular field, in this case playing Irish music on a
tenor banjo. Experts develop over a period of time that includes
coaching/tutoring, repetitive practice, education and laying down and
maintaining a strong set of basic techniques that act as a springboard
for more sophisticated methods.

During this process there are
significant changes to the brain and body, especially the brain which
forms specific pathways that monitor and act on these techniques to the
point that they become automatic and separate from the conscious mind.
In turn heuristic solutions form spontaneously to the various standard
problems that occur in the field of expertise (this means that there is
no conscious thought when a solution is needed, it just occurs) and the
expert can build on this efficient and consistent way of automatic
thinking to come up with a more sophisticated answer to the problem.

It's that automatic response that makes an expert and it is the result of a lot of work, the so called ten thousand hours.

The
problem arises when there are lacunae in the expert's education and
development. Just because you have the hallmarks of an expert doesn't
mean that you are a good expert. If the basics are not learned in a
layered and complete way, there will be problems when more complex
techniques are learned or attempted to be learned. Mistakes and errors
have a way of creeping in anyone's learning process and they shape how
far an expert can go with his or her performance. And then there is
the role of talent.

As musicians develop, a lot of how far they
can go depends both on their training and where they started out to
begin with. Folks musicians traditionally have had very little formal
tutoring (although, in Ireland there is a strong tradition of mentoring)
and as a result there are a lot of limited musicians in the field.
Most of those who arise from this impediment are very talented to begin
with and often are prodigies. Talent is the step on the ladder you
start out on. The ten thousand hours are the journey to becoming an
expert and where you end up is a factor of all these issues.

To
take and extreme example, Itzhak Perlman was a child prodigy who taught
himself to play the fiddle at age three (he was refused schooling
because they thought he was too small to hold a violin) and was
matriculated at Julliard at age ten. He had formal training throughout
his early life and has been a student and teacher ever since. His
talent level was extreme in the beginning and he is now one of the
acknowledged masters. His ten thousand hours ended when he was about
eleven - the time when he was an expert - and continues today.

There
are two important points here that apply to anyone learning to play the
Irish tenor banjo and using Enda's book: a) you can become an expert (but
not always a master) by learning the basics and putting in the work and b)
talent helps, especially if you are young and have a more plastic
brain. Most of us have some talent but putting in the time is the
problem.

So it is important that we go back to Volume One and look at it again before we start Volume Two.
In
the introduction to Volume Two, Enda emphasizes the need to have the
basics of playing, especially "plucking" (picking patterns to us North
Americans.) He points out that without the essential techniques that he
teaches in the first volume, you will not be able to take full advantage
of the second.

Because he is teaching the rudiments of style,
Enda uses several "foundation tunes" to teach the more advanced
methods. These are easy to play in their basic forms - The New Post
Office Reel and The Champion Jig - but they also offer many
opportunities for stylistic change and different looks at how the tunes
can sound. In addition, when he is emphasizing specific techniques, he
introduces other tunes that specifically beg for these techniques to be
used.

As usual, he accompanies the book with CDs of his playing
the tunes and techniques and he offers meticulous detail with each of
the methods. I don't think that Enda expects everyone to learn every
little trick in the book (although you should try) but I do think he
expects the reader/student to take what he is offering and transform
from beginner to a player who has the rudiments of an individual style.

In
my last column, I noted that many of you will skim over the boring
parts and get to the meat of the subject of Irish Tenor Banjo Playing.
This is a mistake in the beginning and continues to be one in the case
of Volume Two. Enda has been a teacher for years with a number of very
good students coming out of his tutelage. He has seen the mistakes that
are made by players and he knows that if you don't have a good mentor,
you will continue those mistakes and limit how far you can go.
Learning to be a good banjo player is a matter of exploration but you
need to have a compass if nothing else. Those "boring parts" offer the
compass.

Take the advice on relaxation for instance. Right after
he introduces the foundation tunes and before he offers any technical
advice on playing them, he has a long chapter on relaxation and then on
one practice techniques. If you have a tendency to skip over these
chapters (and the one that follows on scales and exercises), you will
have missed very important lessons that will bear fruit later on when
you want to develop speed and tone. Most of these basics - relaxation,
visualization, breathing techniques, posture, practice routines and
even scales and exercises - don't come naturally except to a talented
few. The rest of us have to learn how to accomplish these techniques
because if we don't we will limit how far we can go with the music.
Yeah, this stuff seems boring and there is a tendency to skip it or just
pay lip service, but when you are trying to do some of the methods
later on in the book and they don't come, you are paying the price of
ignorance. (This is not bad thing, it just means that you are not
educated in the subject.)

The rest of the book offers advanced
methods and examines how these methods can be used. It is not an
exhaustive tome on the subject, after all new things come along all the
time or are borrowed from other styles because they work, but it is
fairly complete for anyone trying to develop his or her own style.
Assuming you read then apply these techniques it gives you a vocabulary
and experience to not only look at your own playing but the playing of
others so you can analyze and apply as needed. That is what learning a
style is all about, finding things either by exploration or observation
and making them your own.

Enda does not expect everyone to use
everything in the book but I think he wants everyone to be exposed to
those things he thinks are basic and important. What he does expect is
that you will not sound like Enda Scahill but will have a sound that is
uniquely yours. This means that you will have to listen to a lot of
music, practice a lot and above all have an interested ear so you can
find those gems and if you don't know how to perform that sound, you can
at least analyze it because you have seen and heard something similar.

Volume
Two of Enda Scahill's Irish Banjo Tutor is just as rich as Volume One
but takes the student into another dimension of playing. Enda expects
anyone reading this volume to have learned well the lessons of Volume
One and be well on the way to being an expert at the end of the reading
of Volume Two. You can't just read it, you must learn it and these are
not the same thing. The information in Volume Two will help you if you
are willing to take in the whole book and, above all, put in the time to
master the methods. If you do, you will find that you are developing
your own style and will be able to hold your own.

Here is a video I
did after reading and practicing Volume Two. I know that I have a long
ways to go, but the journey has been fun and interesting. I play the
slip jig Hardiman the Fiddler.

See if you can figure out what techniques I borrowed from the book. (I'm not sure I even know.)

Monday, November 2, 2015

Enda Scahill's Irish Banjo Tutor, Part 3

Volume One of Enda Schahill's banjo tutor is as rich a resource as you can find on the subject and even a third look at it only covers part of the considerable and dense amount of knowledge that it contains. So far I have touched on picking patterns, ornamentation, relaxation and learning how to develop a style. Enda uses a number of tunes to demonstrate these issues (and leaves them for you to practice along with the CD) and gives good and sophisticated information about how to play the tunes. Now it is time to talk about jigs.
Enda's plan is to have the student learn up/down picking for reels, hornpipes, etc. first before he delves into jigs. He asks that you "firmly establish" this pattern before going on to jigs because he wants the student to be able to distinguish the down/up (DUDU) pattern from the down/up/down (DUD) pattern.
Interestingly, he is not hidebound when it comes to jig patterns. On the first page of the jig section he mentions that down/up/down "will achieve a strong rhythmical effect" while the alternating pattern is more lyrical. In turn he asks the student to learn the down/up/down pattern when learning jigs and to use it exclusively for a while before becoming more lyrical.
The main reason for this is practical. DUD establishes the jig rhythm - something that most beginners just don't get initially - and it helps with the traps that a DUDU pattern can get you in when you count in threes. This is especially true when you try to add ornamentation to a jig.
Enda doesn't go into a long explanation as to why DUD should be learned for jigs. In a sense, this is a failing of the book because the reasons are crucial if you want to learn how to play jigs. For most of us who have not been brought up in the tradition, jigs are fun to listen to but are not native to our rhythmic sense. Jigs are a type of dance that moves in threes with the first an fourth beat emphasized. While this sounds relatively simple, it is foreign to the standard 4/4 time that we are used to. If we start out playing DUDU, our heads will continue to think 4/4 and the jig pulse will not come through. By learning DUD we are automatically in the jig mode.
DUD is one of the basics of Irish Tenor Banjo which means that we have to learn it until it is automatic - this takes some time, I might add - so that you don't have to think about pick direction when you play. This automation of pick control is the key to learning jigs just as it is for the 4/4 modes in Irish music. It sets a base from which you can develop a style of playing, a style that may not include DUD, by the way, but sets the rhythm in your brain to draw on without having to think about it.
The "secret" to learning how to play an instrument in a folk style is hard work, repetition, listening to the music and having good basic technical skills to draw upon. If you want to improve, you have to have a good base and DUD is part of that base.
If you skip over the DUD part, you will find that you are limited in how you play jigs. DUD DUD with each measure is hard to do at first because you have to constantly think about what you are doing. One of the best ways to deal with this is to just play one note until you have it down and then go one to tunes. When you start with tunes, play them slowly - a lot of jigs are beautiful when played slowly - and gradually increase the tempo. After a while DUD DUD comes naturally and then you can play around with different patterns. This took me at least three months to achieve, so be warned.

I might add that Enda does not teach DUD DUD as an exclusive method, he just thinks that the use of alternate picking for jigs is an advanced technique and that the basic technique is DUD DUD. I agree for the reasons mentioned above and the fact that you are missing out on a lot of the music if you limit yourself to DUDU.
Just to show that alternate picking can be done well, here is a video of Keiran Hanrahan playing a jig. Note how it is more lyrical and how different left hand techniques are needed to make it work.

I have not covered everything that is in Volume One of the Irish Banjo Tutor but I hope there is enough in these three columns to make you curious about the work. If you want to learn how to play the Irish tenor banjo, this is the best book on the subject. If you combine this book with a teacher, or at least regular workshops, you can't go wrong. It is pricey, but the set of books is also a great value because they contain precise and rich information that will only make you a better player.
Next: Volume Two

Monday, September 14, 2015

How to Use Enda Scahill's Banjo Tutor, Part 2

In my last column I got halfway through ESBT1 by pointing out the important bits and using videos to make the points emphasized in the book. To recap, a) everything in this book, no matter how mundane appearing, is important, even the bits in the beginning; b) relaxation and alignment are crucial if you are to learn the rest of the method; c) Enda teaches an alternating method of picking for reels which can be changed as your skill increases, but is important because it lays a foundation for the rest of the techniques (including jigs) and if you don't learn and assimilate this method, you will lose a lot of the value of this system; d) we just started to look at trebles/triplets and how to use them.
I had an interesting dialogue on why there are so many tunes in this tutor. Tunes are the stuff of ITM and they are the fun part, after all. But Enda does not just throw out tunes, every tune in the book is there to illustrate a concept or technique and he emphasizes the importance of practicing these tunes, listening to the CD track related to each technique or tune and then going back and practicing more.
A more advanced (before reading the tutors) student would do well to go over even the most basic parts of the book and CDs. I've found that more advanced students have a better understanding of the basics and often profit more than beginners when this information is given because they are more aware of the lacunae in their technical skills and find little tweaks that help them become more efficient. I know this is true for me and I find gems every time I read and/or listen to Enda.
When I left off last time we were looking at trebles and how to do and use them. His initial introduction to trebles/triplets is sparse. Basically he shows you how to do them and expects you to practice them with the help of the triplet track. One of the problems with triplets is that they are perceived to be so crucial that many players try way too hard to do them and to make them fit in. Again the trick goes back to the "relax and align" meme and, of course, practice. Eventually they come but in the mean time it is important to listen to find where they should be used and when they could not be used. Some of you will get triplets right away, and others (like me) will take a while. The important thing is to not get ahead of yourself because a poorly played triplet sounds terrible and is very frustrating for the player.
Because triplets are treated just like other ornaments, you may find that you are stuck at this point in the tutor. Don't be, one of his remarks is that you can use triplets as little or as often as you like. At this point you probably don't want to use them that much - it is much more important to stick with the alternating picking style as you use the tunes he teaches. The triplets will come eventually.
Another trick is to play the tunes given slowly. Note that the CD entry for each tune (in the beginning, at least) is played slowly. I know that your session plays them about ten times faster, but you are not ready for that and ornaments and if you don't pay attention to the details now, you never will. Enda uses Crowley's Reel as his anchor tune throughout the book and will go back to it when teaching each technique. If you play this tune slowly at first you will get an idea about how and when to used triplets that will carry through to other tunes.
I know I spent some time on triplets, but there is a reason, actually more than one. Triplets are the most often referred to right hand ornament and the one that everyone obsesses over when trying to learn these techniques. Often they are the first one asked about and while pick direction is much more important, often the only one. Eventually, they have to be mastered, but you don't have to do so unless you have the talent to get it right away.
My take:

And another take (note that I don't always use alternating picking, this is before I used Enda's book):

Here is Enda playing two tunes, the first a schottishe (note that there are few triplets here but great music) and the second is Colonel Fraser, one of the "great" tunes. He uses triplets as a part of the tune such that you hardly notice them.

The next issue that Enda takes on is one that is peculiar to the tenor banjo (and other similar instruments), finding the high B note on the seventh fret of the E string. This is one of the few times that Enda addresses left hand fingering schemes ( uses a cello/guitar/chromatic/four finger/finger-per-fret style, all names for the same thing) because this is the only note we have to play out of first position for most tunes.
The first idea that he looks at is changing position to second position (second position means placing the hand up two frets so you can use the same fingering scheme but are closer to the seventh fret.) Here is a video of Darren Maloney playing "Roaring Barmaid." He goes up to second position to play the high B note.

In this tune it makes sense to go to this position and play some of the other notes while there because they are very handy until you have to go back to first position. The second half of tunes such as "Silver Spear" have the same solution to the problem.
There are other ways, of course. Here is Barney McKenna sliding up to the high B in a series of tunes. There appear to be some sync problems with this video, but you can see how he reaches the note.

Barney uses a three fingered/mandolin style in which his third finger is on the fifth fret. In this style it is fairly easy to reach the seventh fret with the little finger and a lot of players do this. The technique of sliding up to the B note is also handy for tunes that require a jump from the high F# note to the high B note (commonly seen in ITM) although it is more of a jump up and back than a slide. It is essentially a move to second position without anchoring your first finger. Enda gives a detailed analysis on how you play the high B note and a few tune examples that have to be played to be appreciated. This skill is essential if you want to use the full range of the tenor banjo tuned GDAE.
We are still on the first book and there is more to report in the next blog entry.

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

How To Use Enda Scahill's Banjo Tutor, Part 1

Enda Scahill's banjo tutor is, in my opinion, the best book of its type available to anyone interested in learning the Irish tenor banjo. It comes in two volumes, the first published in 2009, the second in 2012 (with a revision in 2014 for both), and it spans not only four years of planning and publication but also a change in Enda's career in which he went from a part time job with the Brock-McGuire band to full time with WeBanjo3. In addition there is a third book, The WeBanjo3 Tune Book also published in 2012, that serves as a graduate degree for banjo players even though Enda doesn't look at it in that way.
In this blog entry I'm going to focus on the first book, appropriately known as Volume 1, and go through the advantages and disadvantages of both the book and learning from a book. In addition I will illustrate some of the principles with videos that I took in 2009 just before publication that Enda graciously allowed me to publish on YouTube.
The book really doesn't have any disadvantages. The problem lies more in the reader who may or may not realize what is important. A word of advice: It is all important.
Enda Scahill is one of those people we are lucky to have around. A prodigy on the banjo, he won a number of competitions and was well known as a banjo player before he wrote the books. He also taught Irish tenor banjo on the side and it was because of his teaching that he began to develop a system of playing traditional music on the banjo.
There is no question that if you want to learn to play an instrument, the best way to accomplish this is to have a teacher. For most of us this is not a viable solution unless we live in a city like Chicago. The other alternatives are to attend workshops on a regular basis, search YouTube for lessons, find a good book on the subject, or try and invent the wheel. Any or all of the above is possible but unless you have a good system to start with, most likely you will find your self floundering around trying to become a good musician.
A live teacher will not only give you that system, but will be able to give feedback on a regular basis and serve as model that gives you all of the non-verbal cues you need to succeed. The danger of not having a method of monitoring progress is that a fundamental system may never take effect and there will be lacunae in your basics that will slow progress in the long run.
Enda appears to have written these books with this in mind. While his tutor is ideal for use with a teacher, because it covers all of the basics in great detail, an astute student can get the basics as long as he or she is aware of what is needed.
It may seem a little condescending to point out which end of the banjo is the playing end, but there is a good reason for including these details: beginners come in all forms and some are total newbies with no knowledge of music. Still I advise that you not skip over even those parts that seem obvious because sometimes they are not.
Enda starts with the central theme of his entire tutelage, relaxation and efficient alignment. These principles are mentioned in the "Goals" section of the book, that part that almost everyone skips, and you should pay attention because if you don't, it will be much harder to work with the system and it is hard enough as it is to keep paying attention when you don't have good feedback.
You will see the term "RELAX" all through the book. There is a good reason for this, most people don't relax when they play, especially in public and that alters how you play.
So far we have only seen a few pages of the first volume yet they show extremely important issues that have to be taken into account. Don't skimp on this advice from Enda.
Next is basic hold and right hand. His descriptions are clear, but because students often come in with some ideas already taken hold, ignored. That is not all bad, but Enda is trying to teach an efficient method as a basis for playing that can be altered later on as you develop a style.
Here are two videos on pick hold:

And

In both cases, relaxation is emphasized. This is not the only way to hold a pick, but it is the way he teaches and it is integrated into the whole system.

The next basic aspect, and probably the most important issue that Enda brings to learning the banjo, is consistency in "plucking" ("picking" in North America) and learning to do so in a predictable manner. He introduces the idea of alternating directions in reels and later on a variation for jigs.

This is a concept that is not emphasized in other tutors and it akin to learning bowing in the violin. As you develop, strict adherence to patterns will change, but if you don't have a basic understanding and practice it you will never be able to vary from it. Otherwise it is chaos and you can't improve beyond your talent level in a chaotic environment.
Throughout the book he shows tunes (and there is a CD that lets you listen how they sound) and shows the pick direction needed to play them well. As a beginner you will be on shaky ground if you don't follow the directions he gives. Later on, having an automatic understanding of pick direction will help with the more advanced techniques, and in this series of books there are plenty of them.
Lastly he teaches the most sought after and most understood aspect of tenor banjo, the triplet/treble. You will note that I put in two different names for this ornament, that's because Enda makes a distinction between a single note treble and a multiple note triplet. I just call them all triplets even though there is another written triplet seen in hornpipes that also confuses the matter.

Here is my take:

Here are several of Enda's takes:

A triplet exercise in class.

And a little lesson on triplets up and down:

Here he shows what relaxation and good technique can really do.

These are just the basics (and really not all of them) shown in the book. There is a large section of tunes to be learned and practiced if you want to nail down these basics. And this is just Volume 1.
It's important to note that by just reading the book and looking at videos you will not become an Irish tenor banjo player. You have to put in the time and you have to be able to reproduce the basics in a consistent and efficient manner. One of the pleasures of owning this series is that as you progress, you learn more from the early basic stuff that the book has. This is a consistent finding with all performance arts, the basics are essential and they have different meanings as the artist progresses and develops his or her own style.
In my next blog entries, I will continue to go through Volume 1 and move on to Volume 2 and the Tunebook.

Monday, July 6, 2015

Banjo Setup

A banjo has about 100 parts, give or take a few, all of which are conspiring against you to make your banjo sound terrible. In order to tame this tendency you have to know a few principles that will help you setup your banjo without causing it to explode. I've made a 40 minute video on this subject but it is, by necessity, incomplete because this is a wide and deep subject. Because there are so many different banjos, so many different head sizes, so many ways to attach the neck to the rim and so many types of tone rings, I can't be specific about all of these banjos.
What I can do is give you some ideas about how to setup your banjo and where the limits of an amateur banjo mechanic are. Most of this is common sense if you know how a banjo works but there is a scare factor when it comes to messing with your expensive banjo.
This video is aimed at the player who wants to maintain his or her instrument, not someone who wants to make major changes or anything past changing the head.

Banjos come with disposable parts: the strings, heads, bridges (which eventually wear out) and some parts such as the tailpiece (some of which have a tendency to break) or tuners which can be changed out.
Since a banjo is an accumulation of parts, an heroic player may want to try and change other things but for the most part the idea is to keep the banjo at an optimal state, i.e. each part snugged up to the right tension and safely in their places. A banjo is the sum of its parts, but some parts are more equal than others.Rim
The rim is the most important part of a banjo. A banjo with a great rim will sound good even without a tone ring - look at John Carty's Ome which only has a simple metal hoop (of course he has something to do with it too.) The rim is not a part that you can deal with, but the relationship of the rim to the tone ring and the head is very important. The rim to tone ring fit is a matter for a banjo luthier (one like Vin Mondello or Charlie Cushman, not your local guitar guy) but the relationship with the head is also very important and you have some control over that.Head
Changing heads can make an impressive difference in the sound of a banjo. Fitting a head to a banjo can be tricky - you have to have the right diameter but if you already have a head that fits, just measure it. You also have to have the right height of head and you should look up your banjo on the net to find out if you need a high, low or medium head. Changing the head is a pain and if you don't like the results it is even more of a pain. But if you have done all the work needed and don't like the results, don't give up yet. After a head has been changed you have to wait at least several weeks as the rest of the banjo settles in and you get the head tension right.Head Tension
The head tension is probably the one adjustment you can make that will make your banjo sound good. There have been a lot of things written about this, but the easiest way to determine if your head tension is good is to listen to the banjo as you tighten the head. It is a mistake to make large changes in head tension. Once the head is snugly on, you can make big sound changes with very small tweaks of the tension ring as long as it is even all round. The idea is to increase the tension until you like the sound and then measure what that tension is. A lot of players do it the other way - they tighten up to a specific tension and declare it right which is backwards to common sense.
The video shows a way that I use to tension the head and how to use a DrumDial to measure the result so you can go back to it again.
If you learn one thing, it should be how to tension your banjo head.Strings
There are two things you have to know about strings in Irish tenor banjo. The first is that the string gauge varies with the scale of the banjo. There has been an unfortunate tendency of banjo marketers to call a short scale (19"-21" or so) "Irish Tenor Banjos" and sell them as easier to play. While the short scale means less of a stretch to the high B note, it also means that the changes you do both in setting the bridge and the gauges needed to make the G string sound good are critical. By critical I mean that it is a lot harder to find the right strings that work with a short scale banjo and even a slightly long or short difference in length makes the banjo sounds terrible and causes the intonation to be bad.
String gauge can make a difference in sound quality. Some banjos are sensitive to what the gauges are, while others are indifferent. The higher the gauge, the more the tension, so in older banjos a lighter set may be a compromise but it will preserve your banjo. You can make up some of the difference with other setup changes.
The second is the material that the strings are made from. I have several banjos that don't do well with bronze strings and others that love them. You have to find out what material and what gauge works best for your banjo. Here is an excellent way to change strings. Bridges
There are four important issues with bridges. The first is the bridge height which helps determine the action of the banjo. Banjos are built for a specific bridge height in mind but there is usually enough room for some variation. Another little tip is that a bridge has a 90 degree side and a slanted side. The slanted side, which usually has the logo on it, faces the headstock.
Second is the materials that make up the bridge. The classic bridge is made from maple and ebony, but the quality of materials and how they are put together is very important and some banjos do better with other materials or no cap on the bridge. This is a complex issue that may only be resolved by finding a decent optimal bridge and then forgetting about it because if you obsess too much about it you will never be satisfied and at $20 a pop that can be costly.
Third is bridge placement. Because of the physics involved in how strings vibrate, correct bridge placement is crucial and often forgotten even by luthiers. The videos show how it is done and it is simple enough that anyone can do it.
The final issue is that once you change a bridge, you may have to change the tension on the head or other aspects of the setup because a bridge change is a disruptive act for a banjo. No part of setup is independent from any other part and any changes effect the rest of the banjo. Bridges are the only conduit between the vibrating strings and the rest of the banjo. They act as a filter and the sound changes due to the material of the filter. This can make a huge difference in how a banjo sounds. Find a good maker and work with him or her if you need to change out the bridge.Tailpiece
The tailpiece is usually not dealt with very much except in changing heads where you have to take it off and put it back on. The main thing is that a tailpiece can change the sound of the instrument and it has to keep the string tension on the bridge. If you have a low tension tailpiece like a no-knot you will probably not have the full power of your banjo at hand.
If you have to go beyond these setup parameters, you should either have some experience or find a good banjo luthier. It is fun to work with your banjo but if you are afraid of it, you will screw it up so don't try. Otherwise you can do the things you need to in order to maintain the sound you love.Picks
While picks are not strictly a setup issue, they are the subject of endless speculation. I find that you will eventually find the picks you love but will constantly be on the lookout. No master player seems to agree with any other on what is an optimal pick with the possible exception of the Dunlop nylon .63.Resources
Check the links below and above for other ideas about setup.Banjo Maintenance from DeeringRichie Dotson tipsSpeed changing the head How to tighten a bottlecap banjo using the alternative bolt patternWarren Yates on truss rods - Warren has a lot of good tips on his channel